


Protection

by LadyIrina



Series: Corruption and Redemption [6]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Abusive Parents, Gen, Sibling Loyalty, written to oppose the douchifacation of Theseus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-02-04 08:20:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12766905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyIrina/pseuds/LadyIrina
Summary: A small-ish and somewhat stand-alone piece about the Scamander brothers and their past story.Brought to life by how incredibly douchy Theseus looks to be in the promo pic recently released. This picture lead to me having to write something to honor the Theseus a lot of us had imagined.





	Protection

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, yeah, I said I wasn't going to add more to this series other than a the smutty adventures, but I had to write this in Theseus' defense! I will never accept DoucheTheseus as canon! And huge thanks to Gentrychild for the title! :D

“What is it with you and those damn animals?” Towering over his son, Mr. Scamander’s voice hit almost as hard as his spells would. He abruptly turned to the woman in the room. “This is all your fault!” When Mr. Scamander got angry, the blame would always shift back and forth between Newt and his mother. “You and your damn hippogriffs!”

It had been an accident; he’d not meant for one of his creatures to get loose and find its way into the pantry, but Newt knew his father didn’t care whether it was intentional or not. Someone would be punished.  
He hunched his shoulders and bit his lower lip, waiting for his father’s wrath to turn his way again.  


The sound of glass breaking made all three start and turn their attention towards the livingroom door.

“What the…?” Mr. Scamander stormed into the livingroom, followed by his wife, while his youngest son settled with peeking in from the doorway.

In the middle of the room, standing by a broken window, Theseus sent his livid father a sheepish smile. “Sorry… The Snitch…” And met the wrath with an insolent calm.

A little while later, Newt snuck into his older brother’s room and crawled into his bed while Theseus emerged from the bathroom. He had changed out of his Quidditch outfit and his left eye was almost glued shut due to the bruise that had formed after his father’s spell had sent him flying against a wall.  
Their mother would heal it before he’d go back to Hogwarts, like always.

“You didn’t have to do that, you know,” Newt mumbled. He knew too well his brother had broken the window on purpose to protect him from their father. Theseus had done stunts like that, far too many times to count, in the past.

Theseus sat down next to him on the bed and wrapped an arm around his bony shoulders; hugging him tight. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Newton!” He gave him a wide grin. “It was an accident.”

Newt breathed a laugh, ducking his head as he was squeezed against him and received a loud smacking kiss on his unruly hair. He felt torn between guilt and gratitude.  
Once he was released, Newt watched as Theseus jumped to his feet again and sauntered over to stack his spell books.

One more year, then his brother would graduate and move on and Newt made a silent vow to do whatever he could to make sure Theseus would be able to live his life without having to worry about him. Even if it meant lying to him. Newt owed him that much. No, he owed him a lot more, but he could at least do that much.

-

A little over two years later, Theseus Scamander came storming out of the Headmaster’s office. His face did little to hide the anger he was feeling.

Newt shrank even further down on the chair he was seated on. Not even Theseus and Professor Dumbledore could save him this time…

“Those bloody morons!” Theseus stalked over to halt in front of him. He drew a deep breath to calm himself before addressing his younger brother. “They’re expelling you.”

Newt nodded. He expected as much.

“Why?” Theseus asked. 

“It was an accident,” Newt replied in a low mumble.

“No.” Theseus sat down next to him. His anger was gone when he looked at him again and he seemed more sad than anything else. “I know you and you wouldn’t have made such a mistake.”

At that moment, Leta was lead by them to testify to Newt Scamander’s guilt.  
Newt watched her go, watched as she ignored him, and Theseus made a thoughtful sound as he put the pieces together. “Because…” Newt said, realizing it was no point in trying to hide the truth from his brother now. “Because she is my friend…”

Sighing, Theseus leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees and stared at the door closing behind the girl who had just ruined Newt’s life. 

Father was really going to kill him this time, Newt mused morosely. Getting expelled from Hogswarts was going to be the final straw… Professor Dumbledore probably knew that, which was why he’d contacted Theseus and not his parents when Newt had gotten himself into this mess.

“Right then,” Theseus got up, brushing off his coat. “Get your stuff.”

Newt nodded and got up as well, though much slower. Why hurry to his doom?

“We’ll send Mother and Father an owl after we’ve gotten you settled in!” Theseus shoved him towards the door. “We’re going to need to pick up some stuff for you as well.”

“W-what?” Newt stumbled to regain his balance and sent Theseus a confused look. “Where are we going?”

“To my place, you stupid git!” Theseus shoved at him again, trying to smile. “You’re not going back to that house, Newt. Father would kill you, you know that.”

Stunned, Newt stumbled to regain his balance again. His place? They were going to Theseus’ apartment in London? Their parents had not allowed him to visit, but Theseus had told him he’d gotten an apartment in one of the many letters he’d sent him. He would allow Newt to stay there with him?  
“I… appreciate it,” Newt began. “I really do, Theseus, but… I know you got your own life now and…”

“Shut your gob,” Theseus declared, as cheerful and carefree as ever. “You’re not going back there. He’s done beating you. You’re coming with me. Deal with it.”

Newt couldn’t help the happy smile appearing on his face.

-

Theseus’ apartment was small, but that didn’t matter. Theseus worked a lot, he’d gotten a position at the Ministry, and he arranged for Newt to get a small position there as well.  
They were anything but rich, they didn’t have much space and they worked most of the time, but they were content. Unlike their parents, who had not spared their disdain in their reply to Newt leaving Hogswarts and joining up with Theseus.

It made sense that things wouldn’t last. Good things never lasted when Newt was involved.

Leta showed up. It turned out that she wasn’t Newt’s friend after all, had an eye for Theseus (which was a surprise to him as well) and brought nothing but trouble. It nearly broke Newt completely, but at least he had his brother.  
As if to make things even worse, a little over a year since the incident at Hogswarts, Theseus came home to tell Newt he was joining the war.

“I can’t sit by and do nothing!” He declared, filled with youthful fire.

“Then I’m coming too!” Newt insisted. If Theseus was going, then so was he! He was no coward!

“You’re seventeen!” Theseus shot back. “You’re not old enough to join the bloody army. Stay here, stay out of trouble and I’ll be back before you know it.”

“I’m going,” Newt vowed with a stubborn glare. “I’ll find a way!” 

Grumbling between gritted teeth, Theseus looked like he wanted to use a forbidden curse or two on him. He knew they were no empty words. “Fine,” he hissed. “I’ll see what I can do.”  
Theseus pulled some strings and talked to some of his contacts and Newt was thrilled beyond words the day he received his unform and was presented to some stranger that would become his commanding officer.  
He pretended not to hear Theseus snarling; “And you keep him off the damn lines, you hear? He does NOT go anywhere NEAR the fighting!”

Newt was indeed proud to wear the uniform, but he was both sad and surprised to learn that Theseus was leaving him with this stranger and would head to France to join the front.

“Take care, Newton,” Theseus whispered, pulling him into a final and fierce hug.

“You too,” Newt replied, choked up with tears and unwilling to let go. “Don’t you dare get yourself killed, yeah? I’ll never forgive you if you do.”

In the months and years that followed, Newt didn’t see much of his brother, but he scavenged every piece of information he could get about him and learned about his courage and rising legendary status like everybody else. Theseus had always been Newt’s hero. He was glad other wizards got to see his bravery, even if he wished it hadn’t been in such dangerous circumstances.  
Theseus went from being a young and talented wizard to Theseus The War Hero!

Newt himself, well, after a lot of convincing and nagging, he served on the Eastern Front in a confidential programme to wrangle Ukranian Ironbellys. He might not have his brother’s knack for spell battles, but he knew how to deal with magical creatures! The programme was ultimately cancelled as the dragons only responded to him and tried to eat everyone else, but Newt would forever claim they gave up on the project too soon. Those dragons were merely misunderstood!

When the war finally ended, Newt quickly realized that Theseus had left a part of his heart back on the battlefield. There was a flicker of darkness to him now. Theseus had killed and he had lost countless friends. He was different yet the same; the kindness to his brother never ceased but he would become distant at times. He heard him crying out in fear and angeer in his sleep some nights…

After two tedious years in the Office for House-Elf Relocation Newt then transferred to the Beast Division, where his extensive knowledge of magical creatures finally came to good use, and he found his calling as a magizoologist and did endless amount of research and travelling for his book in the following years.

Theseus, now a powerful Auror, wished him luck when he realized he would never be able to convince Newt to follow his path as an Auror and eventually watched him depart for new adventures in 1925 with sadness in his eyes and orders to contact him if he needed help.  
“Take care of yourself,” Theseus told him, hugging Newt a final time on the docks. “I don’t care that you’re all grown up; you’re still my baby brother, yeah? Stay out of trouble!”

“I’ll try,” Newt replied. He took a step away, his gaze flickering. “Be careful. Grindelwald is… dangerous, I hear.”

“So are the Scamander brothers,” Theseus said with a wink and a hint of his old self.

Nodding, Newt backed up a couple of steps towards the boat. “I’ll write when I can.” He waved a final time and walked onboard the ship. Little did he know that he’d end up facing Obscurials, Grindelwald himself and the mysterious/scary Percival Graves before his journey was over and that his brother’s life would change completely in its wake.

And when that happened, when the rumours began to flow about Theseus being a traitor, that he’d been a follower of Grindelwald all the time, Newt did not believe it for a second. He even laughed outright when one wizard asked him if it was really true that his older brother had stolen his girlfriend and gotten engaged to her. 

Newt had been an outsider for most of his life, he’d never really fitted in anywhere, and he would come to realize that Theseus had felt the same way and was merely better at hiding it. His price for freedom was the ultimate fall from grace, from being a war hero to traitor, but one thing he never lost was Newt.

History wrote down Theseus’ story as that of a villain, but his younger brother knew the truth.  
From the day Newt was born, Theseus had done his best to protect him and help him, and no matter what history books and rumours said; the two remained close friends until the day Newt Scamander was no more.


End file.
